Cotton-planter.



.No. 887,500. PATENTED MAY 12, 1908.

0. L. MoMURPHY. COTTON PLANTER.

APPLICATION FILED JANA, 1907.

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witnesses No. 887,500. PATENTED MAY 12, 1908.

O. L. MQMURPHY.

COTTON PLANTER. APPLIbATmN FILED JANA, 1907.

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, UNITED STA1MPIENT OFFICE.

CLIFFORD L. MoMURPl'IY, OF HARTSFIELD, GEORGIA.

COTTON-PLANTER.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLIFFORD L. Mc- MURPHY, a citizen of United States,residing at Harts'lield, in the county of Colquitt, State of Georgia,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cotton-Planters;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to seed planters and has for its object toprovide in combination with the ordinaryform of seed planter, means forsmoothing the soil in advance of the travel of the seed planter and anovel means for covering the furrow made by the furrow opening after theseeds have been delivered from the hopper into the said furrow.

A common disadvantage found in seed planters now on the market residesin the fact that there is no simple means provided for leveling theground in advance of the planter so as to render its travel andoperation more smooth and efficient. Heretofore where no means has beenprovided to accomplish this result, the planted rows have been uneven,resulting in an unsightly field when the grain or cotton has grown tomaturity. In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation ofa planter constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a topplan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a detail vertical longitudinal sectionalview therethrough. Fig. 4 is a rear elevation thereof. Fig. 5 is adetail vertical horizontal sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1,showing the forward soil-smoothing blade of the planter in top plan.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral 6 denotes thehopper of the planter which may be of any desired construction and whichis provided in its bottom with the usual seed discharge opening 7.Rotatably mounted in the hopper and transversely thereof is a beatershaft 8 carrying the usual beaters arms 9, and one end of the shaftextends beyond one side of the hopper and is provided with a sprocketgear 10 for a purpose to be presently described.

Secured at their rear ends to opposite sides of the hopper are beams 11of bar metal and these beams extend forwardly for a portion of theirlength in parallel relation with respect to each other and are thencebent inwardly toward each other as at 12 and Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed January 4, 1907.

Patented May 12, 1908.

Serial No. 350,828.

thence forwardly again as at 13, the said beams having their portions 13bolted or otherwise secured to each other and bent upwardly as at 14 attheir extreme forward ends to form the draft member of the planter,there beings openings 15 formed in the said upwardly directed portions14: for the interchangeable connection of a clevis therewith.

Intermediate their inwardly bent portions 12 and the upturned portions14, the portions 13 of the beams are arranged for the receptiontherebctween of the standard of a furrow opener 16, the said furrowopener being of any desired construction.

Rotatably journalcd in the body portions of the beams 11 is a shaft 17upon which is mounted a ground wheel 18 and a sprocket gear 19, the saidsprocket gear being located upon one end of the shaft 17 and this end ofthe shaft being extended beyond the corre sponding beam 11. A sprocketchain 20 is engaged over the sprocket gears lOand 19 and serves toeomn'iunicate motion from the shaft 17 to the beater shaft 8 within thehopper to feed the seeds contained therein through the seed dischargeopening 7. In order that the size of the seed discharge opening 7 may beregulated to increase or lessen the quantity of seed dischargedtherethrough, a closure is provided for the same and the said closurecomprises a plate 21 which is pivoted to one side of the opening andwhich has a portion 22 extending beyond that side of the hopper oppositeto the side of the opening to which the plate is pivoted, and connectedwith the said portion 22 is one end of a rod 23, the other end of therod being pivotally connected to the lower end of a lever 21 which ispivoted upon one of the handles 25 of the planter. A segmental rack 26is carried by this handle and a hand-operated pawl 27 is carried by thelever 24 for engagement with the rack to hold the lever at di[l'er entpoints of its rocking movement.

In order that the soil in advance of the planter during its travel maybe smoothed or leveled to render the operation of the planter moreellicient, I have provided a leveling blade which will now be described.The said blade is indicated by the numeral 28 and is curved in the areof a circle with its eonvcxed side presented forwardly, and the blade issupported by and beneath the portions 13 of the beam 11 by means of endand intermediate brace rods 29 and 30 respectively which are secured attheir lower ends to the blade 28 and are provided at their upper endswith eyes 31 which are disposed between the portions 13 of the beams 11and through which and the said portions of the beams 11 is engaged abolt 32. This leveling blade above described is located in advanoe ofthe furrow opening 16 and also in advance of the ground wheel 18.

The furrow closer for the planter comprises a rigid blade 33 which issupported by means of resilient arms 34 which are secured at theirforward ends to the under side of the hopper 6 of the planter at eachside thereof and are extended rearwardly and downwardly and secured attheir rear and lower ends in said blade 33. In order that dirt may bethrown into. the furrow from opposite sides thereof to effectually coverthe seeds deposited therein, plow standards 35 of resilient bar metalare secured one to each of the resilient arms 34 in advance of'and abovethe blade 33, and the said standards are twisted as at 36 to causeshovels 37, which are secured thereto,.

ward ends and extended in this relation, a

bearing formed between the beams, a furrow opener having a standardreceived in the bearing, rods provided-at their upper ends withapertured ears which are received between the beams, a bolt receivedbetween the beams forwardly of the bearing for the furrow opener, boltsengaged through the beams and the ears, and a leveling blade to whichthe lower ends of the rods are secured, one adjacent each end and one atthe middle, said leveling blade being curved forwardly in the arc of acircle.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

CLIFFORD L. MOMURPHY.

Witnesses:

W. J. PERRY, G. W. BROWN.

